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Asteroid Near-Earth

2011 US91

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(2011 US91)

2011 US91 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.79 AU to 1.28 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 385.3 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.283 AU
True anomaly
183.91°
Distance from Earth
1.042 AU
As of
4 November 2026

Two-body Kepler propagation — accurate to ~0.1% for major planets over decades, less so for highly-perturbed bodies. Use JPL Horizons for high precision.

Sun Earth — 0.992 AU from the Sun Earth 2011 US91 — 1.283 AU from the Sun 2011 US91
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2011 US91 is 1.042 AU from Earth today (8.7 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
10h 58m 45s
Declination
+44° 26′ 45″
Constellation
Ursa Major
Distance from Earth
1.04 AU
Elongation from the Sun
78.23° — well clear of the Sun

Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.

From your location

See how high it is right now, whether it is up after civil twilight, and when it rises and sets where you are.

How do I find my coordinates?

Google Maps on a computer

  1. Right-click the spot where you'll be observing.
  2. The first line of the menu is the coordinates, e.g. 51.50722, -0.12758 — click it and they're copied.
  3. Paste them above.

Google Maps on a phone

  1. Press and hold the spot to drop a pin.
  2. The coordinates appear in the search bar (or on the pin's card) — tap to copy, then paste above.

A full Google Maps link works too, but the short maps.app.goo.gl share links don't carry coordinates — copy the numbers instead. We round to about a kilometre; that's all the sky calculation needs.

Know your what3words address? Paste it, e.g. ///filled.count.soap. This is optional — the three words are sent to what3words to convert them, and we don't store the address or the result.

Your location stays in your browser and is sent only for this calculation. Using a what3words address is optional; if you do, the three words go to what3words to be converted and we don't record them. Set a location first, then you can save an email alert for this object. See our privacy policy.

Two-body approximation, good to about a degree for the planets — enough to find the constellation and know whether it is up.

Orbital elements

Semi-major axis
1.036 AU
Eccentricity
0.2395
Inclination
29.37°
Orbital period
385.3 days
Perihelion
0.788 AU
Aphelion
1.284 AU
Longitude of ascending node
22.01°
Argument of periapsis
245.96°
Epoch · J2000
2455859.5
Orbit class · APO
Apollo
Earth MOID · 29.1 LD
0.0748 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
5.777

Orbit quality

Orbit very uncertain — the object may be effectively lost (uncertainty code 8).

Observations used
48
Data arc
11 days
First observed
23 October 2011
Last observed
3 November 2011
Residual RMS
0.38 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
22.3

Discovery & classification

Apollo Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 12 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2011 US91 at 2181-03-14 10:17 UTC Sun 170.6 LD · 6.56 × 10⁷ km 2181-03-14 10:17 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2181-03-14 10:17 UTC close approach of 2011 US91. Catalogue miss distance 170.6 LD · 6.56 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2181-03-11 to 2181-03-17, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate.

JPL Horizons

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2181-03-14 10:17:00 Earth 0.4384 AU 170.6 LD 25.6 km/s
2182-04-02 08:49:00 Earth 0.1451 AU 56.5 LD 19 km/s
2183-04-26 10:40:00 Earth 0.241 AU 93.8 LD 16.2 km/s
2184-10-14 08:43:00 Earth 0.2501 AU 97.3 LD 14.7 km/s
2185-10-14 04:55:00 Earth 0.1007 AU 39.2 LD 17.4 km/s
2186-10-22 15:05:00 Earth 0.3942 AU 153.4 LD 24.1 km/s

Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.

Sources